Susan and The Prince
by Lord PotterXXVII
Summary: A European Crown Prince goes to Hogwarts undercover in search of a bride as all the Princesses and noblewomen he likes are too closely related to him and all the ones that aren't are too snobbish
1. Prolouge

-1Susan and the Prince

Standard disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

Summary: A European crown prince is sent to Hogwarts to gain an understanding of how things are done there and complete his education and to find himself a bride as all the princesses he likes are too closely related to him.

Rating: Teen for now, but may increase to mature in later chapters depending on the direction the story goes.

Warnings: Occasional bad language, Action violence, fluff, possibly smut in later chapters if enough people ask for it.

Setting: starts in Goblet of fire and finishes in Deathly Hallows, since Susan gets so few mentions in canon, compliance will be paid but mainly as background, Susan will be based on the appearance of Eleanor Columbus as there is little information about her and half the fan fiction stories say she's blonde and the other half say she's a red head.

Authors note: _I__'__m actually Tasmanian and haven__'__t visited Europe, I haven__'__t decided where the Prince will be from yet in case I offend any Europeans due to wrong names or traditions being used in my story, reviews will determine the final decision about the princes background if information about different European countries monarchies and cities are included for me to use. but at this point I__'__m considering Denmark as Crown prince Frederick married a Tasmanian woman and thus most Tasmanians including myself have become fond of Denmark for him doing that. Also since I only speak English all dialogue will be written in it, sorry. _

Story:

Henry was a unique teenager in many ways, as well as being a prince he happened to be a wizard. He was fourteen years old with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was tall and lean and his appearance melted the hearts of most of the girls in the kingdom whenever he made public appearances with his parents and two younger sisters. Our story begins on a quiet afternoon after a ball had been held the previous night for Henry's fourteenth birthday.

Henry and his parents were sitting in an airy sitting room of their palace speaking about the ball and the princesses that had been there. Henry turned to his Father and said. "It was a lovely ball father but I don't care for those English Princesses that were there, and all the nice princesses my age that were there are cousins or sisters."

His father faced him and said, "I know just what you mean Henry, I didn't like those English girls either, so snobbish and stuck up for their position. Your mother has an idea that might help you find a fine lady and get some life experiences at the same time."

Henry turned to his mother the Queen who was seated on a two seater couch opposite his own arm chair with his dad. Henry spoke, "mother what is your idea that father speaks of?"

She replied, "Henry, dear, we think that we could enrol you in one of the wizarding schools in Europe for your last four years of magical education, we won't let the students know of your royal heritage, and you can meet a nice witch on your own terms who will love you for being you, not Crown Prince Henry, how's that sound?"

Henry thought about the possibilities, including not having his tutor Doctor Henrikson there all the time and not having the constant feeling of being under a searchlight when in public and said, "yes, that sounds good to me, can I pick which school?"

"Of course you can my son, you have the choice of Hogwarts in Scotland, Beauxbatons in France or Durmstrang in Russia."

"Can I go to Hogwarts? Doctor Henrikson taught me about all three schools and I liked the sound of Hogwarts, plus my English is a bit better than my French and my Russian and Durmstrang has a bit of a nasty reputation for tolerating the dark arts,"

said Henry."

"Of course, dear, I'll owl the headmaster. I expect he'll send you an owl or come and visit you once he has seen your application. I'll ask Doctor Henrikson to write what you've studied so that the teaching staff can select your elective subjects accordingly,"

replied his mother. Henry nodded politely and left to find Doctor Henrikson.

A week later as Henry ate his breakfast, his house elf Lizzie came up to him.

"this letter arrived for you your highness."

She put the letter next to his plate.

Henry nodded at his servant and said, "thank you Lizzie, that will be all for now, send my compliments to the kitchen. I'll call you if I need anything."

The elf nodded and dissaparated away and Henry slit open the thick parchment envelope which had an elegant wax seal featuring a lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake united around the letter H. He opened the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc, Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

_To His Royal Highness Prince Henry_

_We are delighted that you have chosen our school to further your education, term begins on September the 1st and the Hogwarts express will depart from platform nine and three quarters at Kings Cross station in London at eleven am sharp._

_A list of set books and required equipment is enclosed. Owing to your special circumstances myself and Professor Dumbledore will visit you personally the day the owl reaches you to discuss arrangements and explain more detail about the school._

_Yours sincerely_

_Minerva McGonagall: Deputy Headmistress_

Henry finished his breakfast and summoned the chamberlain, "Erik, the Hogwarts senior faculty are coming here later today to meet me. Can you please have a reception room made ready for them?"

Erik nodded and said, "of course your highness, I will see to it at once. No doubt they will be meeting your parents first, so I'll get one of the chambers off the throne room ready,"

he bowed and left.

Henry left and went up to his suite where he changed into semi formal wear fit to receive guests and put his crown on. He then went downstairs and read for a few hours before making his way to his audience chamber. This was a room off the throne room designed for meetings between royal family members other than the King and Queen and their guests. Henry sat in the official chair and straightened up as a footman opened the door and announced, "Professors, Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall."

Henry looked at the two professors and was very surprised at the sight that met his gaze. Professor Dumbledore was tall and wore his silver hair and beard very long and was wearing purple robes and tall high heeled buckled boots and had half moon spectacles over a long and crooked nose. Where Professor McGonagall wore green robes, square spectacles and had her black hair tied back in a bun.

The two professors walked towards Henry and stopped when they were about two meters away. Dumbledore bowed and McGonagall curtsied and then Dumbledore spoke, "good afternoon your highness, how are you?"

Henry was surprised by the kindly nature of the old man and replied, "very well thank you professors, I take it you are here to discuss procedures of how I join your school. You have no need for such formality, since your going to teach me, technically I am your junior, Henry or Prince Henry will be fine here, and at school just follow standard guidelines. Would you care to have a seat?"

Henry gestured to a pair of armchairs near his, the two professors acknowledged this, sat down and McGonagall spoke.

"Prince Henry, when you arrive at Hogsmeade station, look for a man called Hagrid, he will be collecting the first years and taking them to the castle by boat, I will tell him about you, when you get to the castle I will meet you along with the first years and will take you to be sorted. When your name is called I will place an enchanted hat on your head which will examine your mind and will select your house based on the qualities you possess. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I'm sure you've read about them, and the students you meet on the Hogwarts express will explain more."

Professor Dumbledore then spoke, "when you floo to the British ministry of magic you will be taken by car to Kings Cross, with a guard of Aurors, I trust you can obtain everything on your School list here in your home country. Good luck with your studies and in finding a young witch, an event this year will help you there, your head of house will explain when it is coming up. Good day Prince Henry, Minerva and I shall see you in September."

The two professors got up, bowed or curtsied again and left.

Three weeks later Henry stood in his fathers study ready to floo to the British ministry of Magic, his parents were there to see him off.

"Good luck, dear, study hard and find a beautiful, loyal and hardworking witch." said the Queen as she hugged her son.

"I will mum, Hufflepuff house seems to highly value loyalty and the willingness to work hard, might be a good place to look,"

The Queen nodded and let go of Henry.

"You will represent our people when you're there, even if they aren't aware of your heritage. Make us proud son," said his dad.

"Don't worry about me dad, I will do what I can to make our country proud and will eventually bring home a nice witch."

Henry stepped into the fireplace and shouted, "British ministry of magic,"

after Lizzie had sent his trunk and white eagle owl Helga ahead magically.

Henry landed in a plush office where there was a middle aged witch wearing a monocle, she looked up and smiled as Henry climbed out of the grate.

"Good morning, you must be Henry. I'm Amelia, Amelia Bones, head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'll have some of my staff escort you to the station, you'll be a bit early but that's better than being late."

Henry nodded and said, "thank you Amelia, my house elf magically sent my trunk and owl here, did they arrive?"

Amelia pointed to her left where Henry's trunk and Helga were waiting. At this moment the door to the office opened and two Aurors walked in, one bald black wizard with a single gold hoop in his ear and a young witch, not much older than Henry with spiky violet hair. Amelia spoke as they entered, "Henry, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Nymphadora Tonks, they are to be your escort today."

Henry noticed that the young witch noticeably shuddered as Amelia said her name but Kingsley merely gave a small nod and extended his hand. Henry took it and said, "lets be on our way then."

As they left the office, Henry noticed a framed photo on one wall of a young witch with long red hair tied in a plait and brown eyes and couldn't help but wonder who she was.

Kingsley loaded Henry's trunk and owl into the car and opened the door. Henry got in and sat down, the young witch, Nymphadora got in shut the door and sat next to him while Kingsley got into the front passenger seat. She turned to him and said, "wotcher Henry, sorry about before, but I hate my name, most people just call me Tonks."

Henry smiled and said, "that's okay, I can understand that. By the way, who is that witch in the photo I saw in Amelia's office?"

Tonks replied, "that's her niece, Susan. She'd be about your age. I haven't ever met her though, So I'm not sure what she's like."

Kingsley looked over and said, "She's nice, I met her once when I had to go over to Amelia's house, you ought to look out for her."

Henry nodded and sat back and looked at the sights of London flashing by the window as the car moved through the streets. They stopped outside the station with half an hour to go and Kingsley found a trolley for Henry's luggage and loaded his trunk and owl onto it as the car drove off. They reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten and Tonks said, "you've probably read about this barrier, just realise it's not real and either run though it or lean against it when nobodies looking."

they looked around and saw nobody nearby looking at them so they leaned casually against the barrier and fell through. Henry, Tonks and Kingsley moved along and found a compartment about halfway down the train and loaded Henry's luggage into it, Tonks and Kingsley then said, "It's been a pleasure meeting you Henry, good luck with everything."

They waved at him and then dissaparated. Henry got changed into his uniform so that his muggle clothing which would stick out like a sore thumb as it was a lot different to anyone else's and had been attracting glances on the platform wouldn't give him away and waited. A short time later the compartment door opened.

(A.N) who is it at the door? Find out next chapter.


	2. Enemies Friends and School Houses

-1Chapter 1:Enemies, friends and school houses

Standard disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note:_ _Until I pick a country for Henry to be from, his surname will be Regent as I know most monarchs sign their signatures with their given name and an R, which I think stands for regent. Once I pick a country, if somebody reading can submit the surname of their royal house I'll use that._

_Direct quotes from the any of the books will be Italicised as will spells, and lastly if you're wondering why I picked Susan, I think JK Rowling and a lot of fan fiction authors give her a raw deal by killing off her aunt who only got one cameo appearance, and then marrying her best friend off to Neville Longbottom. or using her as a intermediate girl between the start and whoever Harry ends up with, So I think she deserves a happy ending ._

The compartment door opened and two girls and two boys appeared, they all looked about Henry's age and he recognized Susan Bones at once from the photo in Amelia's office. She began to speak, "is anybody else sitting in here?"

Henry smiled at Susan and replied, "no, go ahead miss, you and your friends are welcome."

At Henry's words Susan and the others came in, shut the door, loaded their luggage into the racks and sat down. The other girl, who had long blonde hair plaited into pigtails turned to Henry and said, "I haven't seen you before are you new? You look a little bit old to be a first year."

Henry replied, "yes, I am new, my name is Henry, Henry Regent, I have come here for my last four years of education to get some experience beyond what I have found from being home schooled and to meet new people."

Susan said, "Oh, I see, we don't get many transfer students at Hogwarts. My Name is Susan Bones, and this is Hannah Abbot," Susan indicated the blonde girl with the pigtails, who shook his hand, "Justin Finch Fletchey."

A tall boy with dark hair nodded and shook his hand as well, "and Ernie McMillan."

a brown haired and brawny looking boy who got up and also shook Henry's hand. Henry thought that Ernie seemed to have a bit of a pompous manner about him but seemed friendly enough, and the others seemed like good and friendly people. Henry then said, "It's nice to meet you all, what year are you all in? Also what school house? I've read a bit about the houses and was wondering what the student opinion of them was."

Ernie then replied, "We're all in fourth year in Hufflepuff. With regards to the houses, all of them except Slytherin are pretty good, Ravenclaw is for the most intelligent people, they can be a bit stuck up sometimes because of it but are generally nice enough. We're usually paired with them for lessons. Gryffindor is for students who are braver than average, they nearly always win at quidditch since they've got a good team, and Harry Potter as their seeker. They can tend to be a bit stupid at times and seem to get into fights with the Slytherins more than the other houses put together. Then there's Slytherin, those guys are always pushing the whole pure blood supremacy bullshit. The purebloods who are prepared to do anything to get what they want go in that house. avoid them when you can, be prepared to fight if you can't, there wasn't a single English dark wizard or witch who wasn't a Slytherin."

Henry noticed the others agreeing with what Ernie was saying but realised he had forgotten Hufflepuff. Hannah then said, "you forgot about Hufflepuff Ernie. Henry, Hufflepuff is for students who don't have the virtues the other houses look for in extreme amounts, we tend to be more balanced in our personality, but we also value loyalty and hard work. House placing tend to run in families, but not always, and the hat will take your choice into account if it has a hard time sorting you."

Henry nodded and said, "fair enough, I read about the different houses. I'm not too fussy as long as I don't go to Slytherin, my family values loyalty and hard work but we also prize the virtues that the other houses look for, at times we have to be cunning as snakes, as brave as lions and as loyal as badgers. Not to mention times where we have to be as intelligent as eagles. I bet the hat will end up letting me pick, and Hufflepuff definitely sounds appealing to me."

Susan smiled at him and said, "that's good to hear, a wizard of your calibre would be welcome among us, plus you won't stick out as much as you would if you joined Ravenclaw of Gryffindor."

As she finished the compartment door opened again a boy with white blonde hair and a pointed face came in flanking him were two boys who looked about the same age as the blonde one, they looked both very mean and very stupid, and looked like hired thugs. The blonde boy spoke, "Is it true, there saying all down the train that some European kid who's family are big shots is transferring to Hogwarts."

He looked at Henry before continuing, "It's you is it? You don't want to go making friends with this lot, Mudbloods and Blood Traitors the lot of them, and Hufflepuff is the house for idiots, I can help you meet the right people."

Henry noticed everyone in his compartment had their eyes narrowed and frowns on their faces. They obviously didn't like this person. He extended his hand to Henry and said, "my names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, these are my friends Crabbe and Goyle."

Henry decided he didn't like Malfoy especially after he called everybody those names and said, "I can decide the wrong sort for myself thank you, I'm looking at three of them right now."

Susan looked at Malfoy, stood up and said, "leave him alone Draco, he's new, and who cares about his background, it doesn't matter about someone's background only what they are themselves."

Draco turned on Susan and said, "nobody asked your opinion, Bones, you filthy little blood traitor."

She started crying, Henry felt red rage building up and he stood up and shouted, "TAKE THAT BACK NOW OR ELSE!"

Malfoy turned to him and said, "or else what? Going to fight us are you?"

Henry looked at Susan who was still crying and then back at Malfoy and said, "UNLESS YOU APOLOGIZE TO SUSAN AND GET OUT RIGHT NOW, YES!"

Malfoy looked at him and said, "just try it you Scandinavian freak!"

Henry narrowed his eyes and said, "THAT DOES IT YOU SLIMY BASTARD!"

Henry plunged his hand into his specially tailored school robes and drew his wand, he pointed it at Malfoy and shouted "_Incapactio Bludgeono!_"

A streak of blue light flew from his wand and hit Malfoy squarely in the chest and he doubled up wheezing. Glaring daggers at Henry, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle left the compartment, Henry put his wand away, shut the door and walked over to Susan who was still sobbing quietly, he put a hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "Susan are you okay? Sorry about him, I don't think he'll be bugging you again for awhile. I shouldn't have lost my temper, but that fool just made me so angry I couldn't help myself as I was always told to defend the honour of ladies in times like that."

Susan threw her arms around him and he moved his arms to her back and she said, "don't be sorry, I think it was brilliant that you were brave enough to stand up to him and that's really sweet of you to defend me like that."

She let go of him and they sat back down. Ernie spoke up, "hear, hear, say Henry, what was that spell you used on him? I've never seen anything like it."

Henry turned to Ernie and said, "It's a variation on the bludgeoning hex called the magic binding jinx, it blocks the victim from casting spells until either the caster removes the spell or it wears off automatically in a few hours, the effect of being hit with it is similar to a very powerful punch to the gut and usually it will ache slightly for about twenty four hours and hurt something shocking for the first hour or so after being hit. Not many English wizards use it because it was banned in match duels centuries ago for being unsporting. It was and still is more commonly used on the continent, not many people in England know it. But I was always told that in a match duel, worry about rules, in a fight, just use any spell in your arsenal that can give you an extra edge, if you worry about rules in a fight you lose."

Ernie nodded and Justin said, "that's an incredible wand, where'd you get that?" Henry pulled it out and showed it to them. "Twelve inches, made of white oak and containing one Pegasus tail hair. The carved lions head grip with gold gilding is just ornamentation. Pegasus hair wands are very rare, you only find the animal in a few places, mostly in Greece, but they've been seen elsewhere, only wizards from old powerful light side families can use the wands or tame the animals which are very rare. In my home country we have a wildlife preserve near my family castle I was on a visit there once with my family a few years ago and I saw a Pegasus lose a tail hair, I picked it up and showed dad, we owled Ollivander asking if he could craft me a wand from it and he came over a few days later and we let him take wood from a very old oak tree in our garden and he crafted a wand, one of the finest he ever created, he said, using the hair as its core, when I tried to use it, it worked for me perfectly."

Henry noticed that the others looked stunned by his story. Susan said, "wow! Even Harry Potter doesn't have a Pegasus hair wand, your family must be very powerful and be very anti dark arts, no wonder you attacked Malfoy. I'm guessing Ollivander doesn't sell many wands like yours because he can't get the tail hairs, after all you said your dad owled him and he came to you especially to make it."

At that moment there was a rattling outside and the lunch trolley arrived. Henry put his wand away and walked over, he didn't want to miss anything so he got a little bit of everything and shared with his new friends. As the day went on it got darker and the scenery got wilder, the guys left while the girls got changed and came back in as they left and all of them except Henry got into their robes. Ten minutes later the train slowed right down and finally stopped, they got off into pouring rain, Henry heard a voice calling, "firs' years, this way please, and Henry Regent come 'ere please."

Henry guessed that this must be Hagrid, bade his friends goodbye and walked over and found a giant of a man, he looked twice as tall as a normal person and three times as wide and he had such wild hair and a giant bushy beard. He spoke to Henry, "you must be Henry, I'm Hagrid, just follow me and yeh'll be at Hogwarts in a few minutes."

Henry nodded and followed Hagrid along with the first years who were all looking at him with awe as he was so much bigger than them. They followed a track through thick forest and Hagrid said, "_yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here._"

There was a great Oooh as the first years gazed across the lake, even Henry who had grown up in his families palaces was impressed by the sight of the forest of turrets and towers of the castle the windows blazing with light. They walked over to the edge of the lake and found a small fleet of boats all identical except for one which had obviously been set aside for him, it had two flags tied to a mast, one with the Hogwarts crest on it and one with Henry's own crest A Pegasus against a shield with the letter H on it with his families motto at the bottom. Hagrid called out, "_no more'n four to a boat _and Henry, your boat is the big one with the flags."

they all got in, Hagrid also got his own boat and he shouted, "_FORWARD!_"

And were off into the lake which was extremely choppy, halfway across one boy fell in and was promptly pushed back into his boat by something Henry didn't see. As they approached the cliff Hagrid called for them to duck and the they did so, the mast in Henry's boat shrunk and they arrived onto an underground harbour. Glad to be out of the wet, Henry used a drying charm on himself and followed Hagrid to a door where Hagrid knocked and stepped back. Professor McGonagall opened the door and Hagrid moved off, Professor McGonagall took the group to an empty chamber off the hall and addressed them, "_Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you can take your seats in the Great Hall you must be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will become a credit to whichever house becomes yours._"

Silence followed the speech, the first years were undoubtedly wondering how they would be sorted. Professor McGonagall bade them to get in line, so Henry went to the back so the first years could see past him and they walked into the hall. Henry had read about the ceiling but it still caught his gaze as he noticed how stormy it looked. They reached the front of the hall and Henry looked at the hat now sitting on a stool in front of them, it's brim opened and it started singing:

'_A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen._

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own house, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach._

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest _

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were _

_most worthy of admission;_

_And power hungry Slytherin _

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While still alive they did divide_

_Their favourites from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones_

_When they were dead and gone?_

'_Twas Gryffindor who found the way,_

_He whipped me off his head_

_The founders put some brains in me_

_So I could choose instead!_

_Now slip me snug about your ears,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell you where you belong!'_

The hat bowed to all four tables as everyone cheered. Professor McGonagall opened a large scroll of parchment, she called out, "Ackerly, Stewart!"

A boy walked forward, obviously frightened, the hat was put on his head as he sat down, a few seconds later the hat called, "Ravenclaw!"

And he moved off to an enthusiastic welcome by his fellow Ravenclaws. Professor McGonagall then called, "Baddock, Malcolm!"

After a short moment the hat said, "Slytherin!"

As the boy walked off Henry thought, "you poor boy, if only you knew what is in store for you there."

Boys and girls with varying amounts of fright on their faces were sorted, Henry noticed the boy who fell into the lake, who it turned out was called Dennis Creevey got sorted into Gryffindor. Eventually, Professor McGonagall called, "Regent, Henry!"

Henry walked forwards noting how everyone was looking at him and whispering, he sat down and the hat was put on his head, it fit him much better than the first years but it was still a bit big, it began speaking into his head, "interesting, I don't often see older students. A prince too? Now that's very interesting, I can sense you are searching for love. where shall I put you?" Henry thought suddenly, "not, Slytherin, anywhere but Slytherin."

The hat replied, "are you sure? You could do well there, you would do well anywhere I put you. You are as brave as Gryffindor, as cunning as Slytherin, as intelligent as Ravenclaw and as loyal as Hufflepuff. For once, I can't decide myself, choose your house."

Henry thought about what Susan said, how Hufflepuff would do well having him, and it helped all his friends were from there and he said inside his head, "Hufflepuff! All my friends are from there, and I met a lovely witch that I'd love to get to know properly who's a Hufflepuff, so please, Hufflepuff!"

The hat replied, "an excellent choice, I know who you mean, I can sense your thoughts about Susan, you will do well in Hufflepuff, so I guess you'd better be…"

The hat shouted the final word out loud, "Hufflepuff!"

Henry took off the hat gave it back to Professor McGonagall who looked slightly disappointed but was still smiling at him and made his way over to the Hufflepuff table where he noticed he was getting the loudest cheer yet. He found a seat opposite Susan and Hannah next to an older wizard with a prefects badge on and a badge marking him as the quidditch captain. He shook Henry's hand and said, "I see we've got Prince charming at our table. Sorry, my names Cedric, Cedric Diggory, welcome to Hufflepuff. Susan told me about the train ride, you've earned yourself the nickname Prince charming, the whole house came up with it for you for helping her."

Henry laughed at Cedric and smiled at Susan and replied, "as far as nicknames go, that's a good one to have, I like it."

Food appeared on the table, Henry was amazed, while he was used to banquets, he hadn't seen food magically appear on a table, he sampled all the dishes that were within reach and after dessert was feeling very content. Professor Dumbledore began speaking about an event to take place but was interrupted by a man entering the hall, Henry hadn't seen anyone like this, the man looked tough and battle scarred. Susan said, "I know him, that's Alastor Moody, he used to be an Auror. My aunt said he still holds all the records for arrests and training at the Auror Academy."

Henry nodded at Susan and said, "I've never seen anybody like him, back home our Aurors are tough, but wow, I met a few English Aurors this morning, they took me from your Ministry to the train station, they didn't look anything like him."

Susan looked suspiciously at him and said, "why did you need Aurors to take you, couldn't your family come?"

Henry replied, "I arrived in England using an international floo connection that was hooked right into my family home. I'm a bit of a kidnapping risk, so the Department of Magical Law Enforcement arranged two Aurors and a Ministry car to get me to Kings Cross Station."

Susan nodded and they paid attention to Dumbledore who spoke about the Triwizard Tournament. Everyone was whispering about it and were outraged when Dumbledore said nobody under seventeen could enter. Henry thought that rule was a good idea as he'd read about it and had heard about some of the things that had happened to champions in the past. He remarked as such to those around him, but they all said not to worry as they had altered the tournament to ensure safety. After the feast Cedric led him along with the rest of the house down a corridor and stopped outside a large painting of a badger, Cedric spoke, "keep trying."

And it swung outwards to reveal a gap in the wall, they all went in and Cedric told the new Hufflepuffs that the picture responded to a key sentence that changed every so often. The common room was a large space full of armchairs and sofas and a few tables and chairs, a fireplace took up one wall and an enchanted window was on another, it was still stormy, two staircase were set into another wall which Henry guessed led to the dormitories, and their was a portrait of a witch on the wall above the door, presumably Helga Hufflepuff herself, who waved and smiled at the new students, she looked puzzled as she saw Henry but Cedric told her about him and she smiled and waved and said, "thou are most welcome in my house, work hard and stand by your friends and you will do fine."

Henry bowed slightly and replied, "thank you my lady, I hope I live up to your expectations."

Cedric told everyone to get to bed and directed the girls up one staircase and the boys up the other. Cedric pointed out the fourth years room to Henry and he went in and found his bed in a room with four others, he was very pleasantly surprised at the four poster, which had yellow velvet hangings, nobody spoke much as they were all tired and full of food, so Henry unpacked some pyjamas, got changed and got into bed and fell asleep at once, his last thought was, "I think I will like it here."


	3. Settling In

-1Chapter 2:Settling In

Standard disclaimer: I am not J.K Rowling, I don't own anything except my invented characters and this story and am not receiving a single cent for writing this.

_Authors note:_ _More reviews Please! I need them to know what you think and how I can improve the story. I hate to hold it to ransom but I'm not releasing the next chapter until I see at least 10 reviews, it's the big button at the bottom of the screen just click on it and type something._

Over the next few months Henry began to settle into life at Hogwarts, he stayed close to his friends and they helped him where they could. He found the lessons simple enough as he'd studied spells and potions well above the usual standards for his age and the teachers were all liking him for his talents, with the exception of the potions master Professor Snape who called him a show-off at least once per lesson and sometimes docked points for the most ridiculous things. Mad eye Moody the defence against the dark arts teacher had been very unorthodox in his teaching style in Henry's view but amazed him nevertheless especially one lesson where he used all three unforgivable curses on a spider to show the effects. Then in another lesson he had used the imperious curse on everyone to see if anyone could fight it, Henry was the only person who could, and that was after three tries, where he tried to both sing and stop himself singing God save the Queen. His friends had worse done to them thought Henry, Ernie had been made to act like a chicken and Justin had to turn several back flips. Hannah had to turn cartwheels but Susan's curse was interesting to Henry as she had to sing Opera music, and Henry thought she had a good voice, a bit too wobbly for the stage but good enough to impress people at a private performance.

They finished lessons early on the 30th of October, Henry followed the other Hufflepuffs down into the grounds where Professor Sprout was trying to line them up she moved along the line saying things like, "Fawcett, straighten that tie. Or Whitby fix that hair."

Henry looked around and said to Hannah who was standing next to him, "how are the other schools getting here? The train perhaps?"

Hannah shrugged and said, "who knows, dad always says that wizards can't help but show off at events like this. I suppose they'll make a flashy entrance, you watch."

Henry smiled and said, "you're right, back home we certainly do, hold on…"

Dumbledore was speaking and said, "Aha! _Unless I'm very much mistaken the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"_

Everyone started shouting, "where?" until someone saw and pointed at a dark shape in the sky. Guesses included a dragon and a flying house, It turned out to be a flying carriage, Henry recognized Madame Maxime, he'd met her once when he visited France with his family and had gone to visit Beauxbatons and said so to the others near him. Durmstrang came a few minutes later by some form of magical ship that surfaced from the lake, they all went inside to the welcoming feast, Henry was impressed at the range of food offered and pointed a few favourites out to friends. He laughed slightly when a girl who had laughed during Dumbledore's speech went past carrying a dish of Bouillabaisse and several boys started acting like idiots. Henry had heard about the goblet of fire and wasn't surprised when it was shown to everyone and the entry procedure was explained. Next day they were back at the Hufflepuff table waiting for the Halloween feast to end, Henry had been impressed by the decorations of jack o lanterns and bats and found the food excellent as usual. However, he like everyone else was waiting for the feast to end so they'd find out who the champions were going to be. At last the last morsels magically disappeared from their plates and Dumbledore got up, he began to address the hall. "_Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate it requires one more minute. Now when the champions names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table and go through to the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."_

Dumbledore waved his wand causing all the lights in the room except the candles inside the jack o lanterns to go out casting the room into near darkness, the blue fire of the Goblet was now the brightest thing inside the room. The flames flared red for a second and a piece of scorched parchment shot out of the Goblet, Dumbledore caught it and read the name and said, "_the champion for Durmstrang will be Victor Krum."_

The whole hall erupted in cheers and Henry said to Ernie and Justin who were sitting next to him, "I thought he'd get it, I saw him at the world cup. He'd better be as good with unknown challenges as quidditch, this tournament can be dangerous."

Ernie and Justin nodded and they watched as the Goblet flared again and fired another piece of parchment into the air, Dumbledore caught it and said, "_The champion for Beauxbatons, is Fleur Delacour!"_

Henry recognized her from the welcoming feast as the girl who had made a few boys act stupidly. The other Beauxbatons students all looked disappointed and several were in tears. The parchment flared once again and Dumbledore read the name out, "_the Hogwarts champion, is Cedric Diggory!_"

Everyone at the table went wild, all of Henrys fellow Hufflepuffs were cheering themselves hoarse and Cedric disappeared under a pile of people congratulating him.

Dumbledore was speaking again, but then went quiet as the Goblet flared, he read the parchment and said, "_Harry Potter."_

After repeating the name, Henry saw Hermione Granger shove the bewildered looking Harry off his seat, no one was clapping and whispering broke out calling him a cheat. Harry went into the room with the other champions and the teachers and Ministry officials followed. Henry turned as Ernie said, "Potter got his name in somehow, but how? He's stealing Cedric's glory, we hardly get any and he ruins it by cheating his way in."

Henry frowned slightly and replied, "I don't know how he got through that age line, you can't fool it with ageing potions, didn't you see what happened to those red haired twins? Anyway the look on his face, he didn't look like he was expecting this, we can't accuse him with no proof he entered himself."

Susan nodded but no one else was listening, over the next few weeks anti Harry hysteria reached plague proportions when badges with the logo "_Support Cedric Diggory, The real Hogwarts Champion" _showed up, almost everyone except the Gryffindor's and a few people from other houses were wearing them. An article had appeared in the daily prophet about Harry that was an enormous source of jokes and supposed evidence of his attention seeking personality. Henry didn't believe a word as he thought that Harry wouldn't be as angry as he looked if he'd wanted all this, he'd seen him get into a fight with Malfoy outside potions that resulted in Goyle sprouting boils all over his head and Harry's friend Hermione's front teeth being cursed to grow bigger. Henry was relieved that the Hogsmeade trip was coming up and went to talk to Susan about it when he saw the message on the notice board, finding her alone in the common room he walked over and said, "are you going to Hogsmeade Susan?"

Susan looked up from a Charms essay she was writing that he'd finished the previous night and said, "yes, I usually go. I don't know who I'll go with though, I usually go with Hannah but she says she's going with Ernie this time."

Henry saw a golden opportunity to get to know Susan better and said, "would you like to come with me? I've always wanted to see Hogsmeade and if you haven't got anyone to go with, you could always come with me. We can get away from this stupid Harry bashing for a few hours at least."

Susan looked surprised, blushed slightly and said, "you really want me to come with you? I thought the all girls would all be queuing up to go with you since you're Prince Charming."

Henry laughed and said, "I've met too many girls like that back home to be interested in meeting any like that here. They only like me for my appearance and my families riches, they hardly know me, you do. Of course I want you to come with me, you've been there for me since my first day here and I owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for that, so how about it?"

Susan got up and hugged him tightly, releasing him after a long moment she said, "of course I will, now can you help me with this?"

So Henry sat down next to her and proceeded to help Susan write her essay which she'd nearly finished anyway. The day of the Hogsmeade trip dawned, Henry got up and dressed in some of his more sedate muggle attire and combed his hair, he still felt slightly overdressed as he saw the others heading to breakfast look at him with slightly odd looks on their faces as they saw his neatly tailored and pressed clothes. He sat down at the Hufflepuff table and looked around the room at the rest of the school, nearly three quarters of them were sporting red badges and Henry thought they looked ridiculous. Susan came in and sat down next to him looking very pretty indeed in a neat pale blue skirt and blouse with matching shoes. She turned to him and said, "you look smart Henry, you don't have to dress up too much to visit Hogsmeade, it's really a casual thing. It's good you dress so stylishly though."

Henry smiled at her and said, "for me this is casual dress Susan, you look quite pretty yourself."

She blushed bright pink at this, but before she could reply, Justin, Ernie and Hannah had come in and joined them, they all ate breakfast before the two groups and Justin split up and went to get in line to be signed out by Argus Filch the caretaker, Henry and Susan stayed quiet as they moved along and had their names written on the list.

They stepped out into the grounds and set off for Hogsmeade walking along the track past other groups of people and a few people by themselves, Hermione Granger being one of them Henry nodded politely at her as they passed and she did likewise, they reached the village outskirts a few minutes later and Susan said, "there is a bit to see here, I don't think we'll have time to see it all today, what do you think?"

Henry felt slightly nervous, he wanted to make a good impression as he was beginning to become quite fond of Susan, so he replied.

"I don't know about you Susan, but I think I'd like to take a look at a few of the shops and then perhaps we can find somewhere to sit down and have a drink. How's that sound? I've heard about a few places that are worth visiting."

Susan smiled and said, "sounds good to me, come on, anyone who comes to Hogsmeade should see Honeydukes, you'll love it."

She grabbed his hand and led the way into the village stopping when they reached the shop, Henry opened the door and said, "ladies first."

Susan giggled slightly and walked inside and Henry followed, he was amazed at the sight that met his eyes. Every kind of sweet he'd known was somewhere on the shelves along with many he hadn't ever heard of. Turning to Susan he said.

"I've never seen so many types of sweet, back home we have places like this but this is amazing."

Susan nodded and replied, "no visit to Hogsmeade is complete without a trip here, every single student will almost always come here and buy something when they get the chance as it's one of the three most popular destinations."

Henry grinned and the two of them browsed the shelves for awhile before Henry noticed that the shop had special hampers for sale aimed at new customers so they could sample different varieties of sweets, so Henry bought two, one for him and one that he planned to send home to his family. He and Susan left the shop and walked along the road, stopping at a few shops that sold all sorts of things, Susan seemed interested in a display of new stock at Gladrags Wizardwear so they went in. Henry examined a rack of casual wizards robes and was pleased at the variety available whilst Susan was looking at witches dress robes, a shop assistant came over to him and asked if he needed anything, he replied that he didn't and asked him to help Susan, they left a few minutes later and Susan said.

"I always like that shop, they had some really nice dress robes, much better than mine. I'd love them, but they're a bit too expensive for me to buy myself."

Henry saw a possible future chance to do a good deed but decided to keep mum for the moment. He thought for a second and said.

"Shame, but you look wonderful as it is, now would you like to find somewhere to sit down and have a drink. I think I saw a tavern not far from here, students were going in so I suppose we're allowed in."

Susan giggled again and said, "you really are a gentleman Henry, I know where you mean, that's the three broomsticks, we're allowed in there, we can only drink butterbeer though, maybe Madam Rosmerta has a quieter area in there, that place will be packed."

Henry smiled and led the way up the street and into the bar, seeing that it was indeed full of students, most of them wearing badges, Henry turned to Susan and said.

"I shall go to the bar and buy us drinks, while I'm there I'll see if the landlady has any private parlours so we can get some peace away from this lot."

Susan smiled and said, "that sounds great, you can't hear yourself think when it's this crowded."

Henry approached the bar and a smiling curvy woman noticed him and said.

"What can I do for you Prince Charming, yes I know about you, a few Hufflepuffs said you'd come and gave me a description."

Henry laughed and said, "two pints of your finest butterbeer please good landlady, and do you have any private parlours? It's a bit noisy in here and Susan and I would like m somewhere a bit quieter to talk."

The landlady replied, "certainly, coming right up, there's a room the teachers sometimes use just off the main bar, you can use that since they're not here. Take this key, I know what you mean about it being noisy, it's more crowded today because of the foreign students being here, I'm guessing you don't like this badge rot either."

She got out two tankards from a rack under the bar and poured butterbeer from a keg a bit smaller than the one she was using for the main crowd. She passed him the key and their drinks and said, "ten sickles please."

Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out some money which he passed over. Finding Susan he led her across the room, she unlocked the door and they found a room with a fireplace and several armchairs, a sofa and coffee tables. Susan shut the door and they set their drinks down on a table and sat on the sofa. Susan took a sip of her butterbeer and turning to Henry she said, "this is her best brew, not many students drink it. It's really nice of you to do this, I love the three broomsticks when it's quiet."

Henry smiled and said, "this beer is good, I don't mind paying a little extra for better beer, quality over quantity I say. I like a quiet drink too, we can talk without being overheard in here."

Susan smiled and said, "I agree, none of those fools wearing badges, I'm sick of them, there's no way Harry entered by himself, they'll all see it when the first task comes up."

Henry sipped his beer and replied, "yes, I know, I read about the tournament, and I know you can't fool an age line or trick the Goblet with any of the ways people say Harry used. The only way you could do it would be a confundus charm and fourth years aren't taught that, the only fourth year who could probably do it would be Hermione Granger and she's one of Harry's best friends."

Susan smiled warmly at him and said, "your right there, Hermione could trick the Goblet but she never would, I've met her, I don't know her really well but well enough to know that she wouldn't put Harry in the tournament."

They finished their beers and Henry pulled out his watch and consulted it, turning to Susan he said, "look at the time, we'd better go back Susan, I must send a few letters when we get back."

Susan nodded and accepted Henry's hand to pull her to her feet when he got up first. They locked the door behind them and gave the key back along with their tankards as they passed through the still packed main bar room. They walked back to school discussing the first task and what it might be, as they reached the entrance to the school grounds Susan reached for his hand and pulled him a bit closer and said, "thanks for everything today, you were an absolute gentleman, I loved every minute of it."

She reached for him and pulled him close kissing his cheek in the process, Henry blushed but did the same and said, "it was my pleasure Susan, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

They went inside and went back to the common room, Henry pulled out some parchment and a quill and bottle of ink and set to work, writing first a letter to his parents saying how everything was going and about Susan. He then waited until Susan wasn't watching him and wrote a letter to the manager of Gladrags Wizardwear ordering the robes Susan had looked at and asking for recommendation and authorising ordering for any jewellery to go with it and telling him to send the lot to Susan anonymously and sending the bill to his Gringotts account. He sealed the letters and picked up the hamper of sweets he'd bought for his parents, turning to Susan he said, "I'm going to post these, I'll see you at dinner Susan."

She waved and smiled at him so he left and walked up to the owlery and found Helga, holding out his arm she fluttered down and landed on it. Henry tied the hamper to Helga's legs and gave her the letters to clutch in her beak, stroking her feathers he said, "the first letter is for the shop owner in Hogsmeade the second is for mum and dad, fly safe Helga."

The owl stretched her great white wings and took off through the window, Henry grinned triumphantly as he imagined Susan's astonished look in a few days time when she opened the package to find the dress robes she'd wanted.


End file.
